DEMOS

• Can the west wing work in the west end? Radio 4 is airing a new drama called 'Number 10' this Friday, which is sort of trying to do for UK politics what 'The West Wing' did for America. The really interesting question is whether the British public can swallow a positive portrayal of politicians as morally serious people who are genuinely trying to do their best in challenging circumstances. I hope the drama's author, Jonathan Myerson, can pull it off. He's done a nice prospect article that includes this unfashionable, but rather... continue reading 5th September 2007 Comments (3)
• Did Columbo need DNA? There's some coverage on the BBC website of the 'DNA database' - the store that since 2004 has held the DNA of anyone arrested for a recordable offence. Apparently it's the biggest in the world - 5.2% of the country is on it. Part of this revolves around whether taking select samples of DNA (only from those arrested) is an equitable way to compile a database. The issues range from whether it is right that DNA can be kept on record even if the person is not charged (which is what happens now)... continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 5th September 2007 in For Your Information Comments (5)
• Why Damilola Ajagbonna is a legend it is with great concern that we note in The Independent that one of the most legendary interns we have ever had the pleasure to work with is facing deportation. Two points to note about Damilola: He circumvented the intern recruitment process by, literally, grabbing one of our researchers on a trip to his school, and demanding to know what he was doing on school grounds. He rubbished the researcher's research and said that he wanted to be Prime Minister--in light of all this, we offered him a work placement. The... continue reading 5th September 2007
• "It's not that I want to walk and talk... I want to sing and dance" Bit of a plugblog, this one. People may have noticed in one of the Guardian's alternative obituaries, the wonderful story of Mike Hopson. He was an one of the resident 'apprentices' of the Orpheus Centre, which specialises in inclusive performing arts. It's a place that becomes a part of the lives of everyone who passes through. (I'm one of its trustees, hence the plug apologies). In the same paper, there's an ad for two key posts at the Centre. Maybe there's a demos blog reader who knows a... continue reading Posted by Jack Stilgoe on 4th September 2007
• Making sense of hybrids Tomorrow is a big day for science governance anoraks. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are deciding (in public) whether to allow research on hybrid embryos. The novelty is that their decision comes after months of deliberation - some public, some private, in newspapers and in staged engagement experiments - among experts, policymakers and the public. For the last couple of years, we at Demos have been speaking to all sorts of organisations, including the HFEA, about how they... continue reading Posted by Jack Stilgoe on 4th September 2007
• School of Everything The one question I always struggle to answer is ‘what to people do when they leave Demos?’ It’s a tricky one because people do such varied things – in my time here people have gone into academia, government, NGOs and film-making to name a few. To add to that list is Paul Miller, one of our associates, whose new enterprise,School of Everything (a bit like ebay for teaching and learning) has been picked as one of the top 20 early stage start-ups in Europe for Seedcamp - an intensive week of mentoring and coaching by some of the world's most experienced entrepreneurs and technologists. continue reading Posted by Duncan O'Leary on 3rd September 2007
• top demos downloads jan - june 2007 no podcast this week. sorry. we have a new stats tool for the back end of our website which can tell us everything we ever wanted to know about our website, like how many people in Uzbeckistan are interested in the future of dentistry. It also tells us that the best part of half a million pamphlets were downloaded from the demos website in the first half of 2007.  Here are our top 10 downloads from the first 6 months of 2007.1. Atlas of Ideas Reports: (combined): 85 7202. The... continue reading Posted by Charlie Tims on 31st August 2007
• Fighting for the soul of localism Whatever happened to the new localism? A few years ago it was the hot topic of party conference season. Today, not even the New Local Government Network, which arguably invented the idea, has fringe meetings about it.Part of the answer is that localism is the new orthodoxy. The government is reducing targets, focussing on making councils into strategic place shapers and trying to build a new relationship at the local level. That might not sound too radical, but it's a lot better than the... continue reading 30th August 2007
• Watching history I was in parliament square for the unveiling of the Mandela statue today. I went there thinking that it might be a good spectacle - and i left with the feeling that i might never again be in the presence of anyone so inspirational. Ken Livingstone came closest to summing up how i was feeling, when he said:"Long after we are forgotten, you will be remembered for having taught the world one amazing truth: that you can achieve justice without vengeance".Mandela may not be the official... continue reading Posted by Duncan O'Leary on 29th August 2007 Comments (1)
• Podcast: Catching up in an age of global english We're all off for a week now, so if you try and call the office, you'll probably get the irritating voicemail that we can't change that just says "DEMOS" in a rather sinister fashion. Sorry in advance. As a parting shot, here's a Demos podcast. It's Samuel Jones and Peter Bradwell talking about their pamphlet "As you like it" which was launched to a chorus of "what absolute drivel, what rubbish, what poppycock" back in March. Sitting outside St. Paul's Cathedral a... continue reading Posted by Charlie Tims on 17th August 2007 in Demos Podcasts

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